Arts & Life

2:38 am

Sun February 19, 2012

E-Books Flipping The Page On Publishing Standards

Not known as a hotbed of experimentation, the world of publishing has been slow to embrace the transition from print to e-books. This past week in New York, however, the Tools of Change digital publishing conference attracted entrepreneurs and innovators who are more excited by, rather than afraid of, the future.

It was the kind of crowd where some were more inclined to say "Steal my book!" than to argue over what that e-book should cost. These are people who see digital publishing not as a threat, but as an opportunity.

Joe Wikert of O'Reilly Media, which hosted the conference, says digital publishing is in its infancy but the potential is endless.

"If you come up with something new and exciting, you can change the playing field overnight," Wikert says.

Publishing Power Transfered To Authors

Mark Coker is the founder of Smashwords, an e-book publishing and distribution platform that he introduced for the first time at this same conference four years ago.

"We make it really easy for any writer anywhere in the world to instantly publish any book," Coker says.

In its first year, Smashwords published 400 books, but that quickly increased to more than 100,000. The company's biggest competitor is the behemoth Amazon. That doesn't scare Coker, because he distributes Smashwords' books to any other e-book retailer that wants them. A writer himself, Coker believes the power base in publishing is shifting.

"The power to create great books and the power to distribute great books is transferring to the author," he says. "Just a few years ago, publishers controlled the printing press and they controlled access to retail distribution. So if you couldn't get your book printed and you couldn't get it distributed, you'd never reach readers. But today, the printing press is completely democratized."

Smashwords doesn't edit or curate its books, and Coker says the readers should decide which books will rise to the top and which will fail. And in the brave new world of digital publishing, Coker says, a book is a constant work in progress.

"In the old days, in the print-book days, books were relatively static objects. The publisher would wrap up the book, ship it out and that book would rarely change," he says. "But with e-books, they're these dynamic creatures. Authors have the ability to change anything about the book at any time."

A New Model

Why wait until a book is finished to find out what readers are thinking? Dominque Raccah, CEO and publisher of Sourcebooks, is experimenting with the "agile publishing" model — which allows authors and readers to interact as the book is still being written.

"You really are publishing into a community already," Raccah says. "So what you are going to be doing is developing that book in front of that community, having the community interact with the author to develop the book [and] provide feedback."

A lot of the digital publishing experiments that are getting under way today may not be here a few years from now, but Raccah says the experimentation is key to learning what will and won't work in the future.

Peter Meyers, author of Breaking the Page: Transforming Books and the Reading Experience, says when the dust settles, the book as we know it might be different. Digital enhancements may even make the book smarter, but the experience of reading will be fundamentally the same.

"Once we get through the next couple of years of mania, and that's where we are at ... people will take a deep breath and say, 'Ok, the book is not dying,'" Meyers says. "Is the print book diminishing in its presence? Of course, but the function of the book itself as a break and a refuge and a chance to spend immersive time with an author telling a story, I think is incredibly valuable."

Whatever the future may hold, Raccah says the present is a great time to be in the business of publishing.

"I really feel tremendously blessed that we all get to have this conversation about what the book can be in the future," she says. "What does it mean? How does it work? How do we expand the boundaries of the book? This is a conversation worth living for."

Raccah says when she first got involved in digital publishing she thought she would be developing products for her children's generation. She was wrong about that; the future, as it turns out, is now.

Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

Transcript

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. The publishing business is not really known as a hotbed of technological innovation. But this past week in New York, the Tools of Change Digital Publishing Conference attracted entrepreneurs and innovators who aren't afraid of the future - they are inspired by it. As NPR's Lynn Neary reports, this was not your usual publishing industry crowd.

LYNN NEARY, BYLINE: It was the kind of crowd where some were more inclined to say steal my book, than to argue over what an e-book should cost. These are people who see digital publishing not as a threat but as an opportunity. Joe Wikert of O'Reilly Media, which hosted the conference, says digital publishing is in its infancy but the potential is endless.

JOE WIKERT: If you come up with something new and exciting you can change the rules and the playing field overnight.

MARK COKER, FOUNDER, SMASHWORDS: Smashwords is an e-book publishing and distribution platform. We make it really easy for any writer anywhere in the world to instantly publish any book.

NEARY: Mark Coker is founder of Smashwords, a self-publishing company, which he introduced for the first time at this same conference four years ago. In its first year, Smashwords published 400 books. Now, it has published more than 100,000. The company's biggest competitor is the behemoth Amazon, but that doesn't scare Coker. He distributes Smashwords' books to any other e-book retailer that wants them. A writer himself, Coker believes the power base in publishing is shifting.

SMASHWORDS: The power to create great books and the power to distribute great books is transferring to the author. Just a few years ago, publishers controlled the printing press and they controlled access to distribution. So, if you couldn't get your book printed and you couldn't get it distributed, you'd never reach readers. But today the printing press is completely democratized. It's on the Internet, it's in the cloud, anyone can use it and the distribution is democratized.

NEARY: Smashwords doesn't edit or curate its books. Coker says the readers should decide which books will rise to the top and which will fail. And in the brave new world of digital publishing, says Coker, a book is a constant work of progress.

SMASHWORDS: In the old days, in the print book days, books were relatively static objects. The publisher would wrap up the book, ship it out and that book rarely changed. But with e-books they're these dynamic creatures. Authors have the ability to change anything about the book at any time.

NEARY: And why wait until a book is finished to find out what readers are thinking? Dominique Raccah, CEO and publisher of Sourcebooks, is experimenting with the Agile Publishing Model, which allows authors and readers to interact as the book is still being written.

DOMINIQUE RACCAH: You're really publishing into a community already. So, what you're going to be doing is developing that book in front of that community, having the community interact with the author to develop the book, provide feedback on how, you know, what's good, what's not so good, or directions and ask questions, and then you're publishing then at the end of that developmental process.

NEARY: A lot of the digital publishing experiments that are getting underway today may not be here a few years from now. But Raccah says the experimentation is key to learning what will and won't work in the future. Peter Meyers, author of "Breaking the Page: Transforming Books and the Reading Experience," says when the dust settles the book as we know it may be different. Digital enhancements may even make the book smarter, but the experience of reading will be fundamentally the same.

PETER MEYERS: Once we get through the next couple of years of mania - and that's really where I think we're at. I think we are in an intense period of speculation that's very similar to the dot-com boom of the mid and late '90s. Once we get through here people, will take and deep breath and say, OK, the book is not dying. Is the print book diminishing in its presence? Of course. But the function of the book itself as a break and a refuge and a chance to spend immersive time with an author telling a story, I think is incredibly valuable.

NEARY: Whatever the future may hold, Dominique Raccah says the present is a great time to be in the business of publishing.

RACCAH: And I really feel tremendously blessed that we all get to have this conversation about what the book can be in the future. What does it mean? How does it work? How do we expand the boundaries of the book? This is a conversation worth living for.

NEARY: Raccah says when she first got involved in digital publishing, she thought she would be developing products for her children's generation. She was wrong about that. The future, as it turns out, is now. Lynn Neary, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.